2001 Barolo & Barbaresco

Last night was the 2nd meeting of the Westside tasting group that we are part of. This time it was 2001 Barolos and Barbarescos. We met at Violet in Santa Monica for dinner and wine. I have had very limited experience w/ either Barolo or Barbaresco so I was definitely eager to see what similarities, etc were in wines from the same vintage. The tasting was set up as a single blind tasting, ie we knew the six wines we were drinking, we just didn't know which was which. The six wines were:

2001 Giuseppe Mascarello Barolo Monprivato
2001 La Spinetta (Giorgio Rivetti) Barbaresco Vigneto Starderi
2001 Mauro Veglio Barolo Gattera
2001 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Falletto
2001 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Bussia
2001 Mauro Sebaste Barolo Monvigliero

Unfortunately there was some bottle variance with the Giuseppe Mascarello Monprivato. The bottle I drank from was sour and not good at all ... the other bottle was supposedly fantastic and a lot of people chose it as the WOTN (Wine of the Night). The La Spinetta was great ... very tannic, but I would love to have a bottle or two to hide away in the cellar for 10 years or so ... I'm sure it will develop to be incredible. The Mauro Sebaste Barolo Monvigliero was also great, probably won't age as long as the La Spinetta, but wonderful in it's own right.

The night actually started with two Italian whites ... a 2005 Bruno Giacosa Roero Arneis and a 2001 Bruno Giacosa Spumante Brut sparkler. I only had a taste of each, neither of which really struck my fancy, but oh well...

We finished off the night w/ desserts and two ports; a 1983 Fonseca Vintage Port and a 2003 Fonseca Vintage Port. It was great to have the two side by side to see what 20 years will do to it. Both had the nose of raisins which is common in port, but the 1983 had softened quite a bit, in color, nose, and taste. The 2003 kind of bit you. The 1983 went especially well with the chocolate sorbet :)

Overall, a fantastic night with great people, wine, and food. Glad that we found a group that is social rather than so snobby about the wine. Plus it's great to be toward the bottom in knowledge about the wines because we learn so much from these tastings. Definitely looking forward to the next group event ...